


White Christmas

by SaraJaye



Series: Ever After 'Verse [11]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cabins, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Vacation, Cookies, Family Fluff, Food, M/M, Snowball Fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 18:55:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17126885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: Keith and his family take a trip to a cozy Vermont cabin for the holidays.





	White Christmas

"Is it just me, or does the car feel more crowded this year?" Keith asked as he adjusted the rearview mirror. It was a silly question, of course, it _was_ more packed than the last time they'd taken a trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa Kogane. Just a few months ago they'd added twins to their family, the bookish Lisa and the rambunctious Danny who were currently squashed up against his mother's sides. In the back row, Acxa was flanked by Athena and Sven, both fast asleep. And of course, Kosmo and his puppies in his doggie carrier, actually staying put for once.

"Why _are_ we driving to the airport anyway?" Acxa asked. "Shiro has his own plane."

"Because there's nowhere to land it by the cabin Jasmine and David rented," Shiro said. "So we're gonna have to deal with an airport and all the bullshit it entails." While airport security had mellowed out since the end of the intergalactic war, it could still take up to an hour to get past the checkpoints. Taking Shiro's plane was faster and easier, but the cabin in Vermont wasn't anywhere near an airstrip the way Grandpa and Grandma's house was.

It was a small price to pay, though. Vermont was supposed to be beautiful in the winter, and it would be a treat for the kids to have a truly white Christmas. Lots of snow to play in, an excuse to wear the sweaters Grandma had sent them a few weeks ago, picking out a tree from a forest rather than poking through a lot.

"Good thing none of us get airsick," Mom said.

"Unfortunately, this one snores." Acxa prodded Sven a little. "Hey, kiddo-"

"Trust me, you haven't heard snoring till you've shared a room with Kolivan," Mom said. "You'll be fine."

 

The ride to the airport and the flight itself were fairly uneventful, with the kids sleeping half the time and _Adventures In Babysitting_ on the TV to keep them entertained. At one point, Danny and Sven went around collecting desserts from anyone who didn't want theirs.

"I hope those aren't your Christmas presents for the family," Mom teased.

"No way! These are for us and the girls," Danny said. "And maybe Jeff if his mom says he can have some." Between them, they'd snagged fifteen of the little packaged vanilla confetti cakes. Keith couldn't help grinning, any kind of packaged snack cake took him back to his childhood when Dad would bring home a box from the market and Keith would try so hard to make it last because junk food was expensive.

Laurie was waiting for them at the airport when the plane landed, smothering everyone with hugs before she loaded them into the van. A rental van, because Laurie's own car was in the shop for repairs and was too small for so many people anyway.

"And even if I live closer to Vermont than the others, I can't afford all the gas for the trip," she said as she drove towards the cabin. The Koganes had all gathered at Grandma and Grandpa's place in Colorado for their reunion with Keith, but Laurie lived in Maine, Craig in California, and Nick's family in Georgia. Getting them all together for the holidays could be a task in itself, but to Keith it was worth every aggravation.

This was the kind of thing he'd missed out on as a kid, and he wouldn't dream of depriving his own children.

" _And everyone is family, we're havin' so much fun! After all there's only one more sleep 'til Christmas_ ," Lisa sang, loudly and off-key. Their bookish daughter could change her tone at the drop of a hat, sometimes as cheery as Athena and other times as quiet as Sven. But even Sven was in rare form today, as he sang along with her.

"Actually, honey, there's _four_ more sleeps till Christmas," Shiro told her, ruffling her mop of brown curls. "But don't worry, those four sleeps will go by in a flash."

"Yeah! Kristen said we're gonna make cookies, and cut down a tree, play in the snow, make our own maple syrup, and see a play!" Athena said.

"Which one?" Sven asked. "Ghosts, or the man who wished he were never born?"

"Those are boring. They should do Home Alone instead!" Danny said with a snort. "I'll even play Kevin!"

"Eww, no way. Even you're not as a big a butt as Kevin," Lisa teased.

"Actually, Kevin wasn't so much a butt as his family were neglectful jerks," Acxa piped up. "The first time Veronica's family showed me that movie I wished Harry and Marv would adopt him after they got out of jail and cleaned up their lives."

"Acxa, they wanted to kill him," Mom said. "And really, the whole mess was Uncle Frank's fault."

"I am _so_ glad I'm not the only one who thought so!" Laurie said. "Heath and I always thought it was and no one took it seriously." Keith chuckled, remembering how his dad would scowl every time Frank showed up onscreen. At the time he'd just thought it was because Frank was a dick, and not even the entertaining kind like Harry and Marv.

(So was Buzz. One thing Keith took away from the movie was that even if being an only child sucked, at least he didn't have a sibling like Buzz.)

"The second movie was Kevin's fanfic retelling of events and nothing can convince me otherwise," Keith said. "I mean, what kid _doesn't_ want to buy a huge hotel room with lots of snacks, order room service, and take a limo to a toy store while eating pizza?"

"Make it Chinese food and that sounds like my idea of heaven," Acxa said. "Especially scallion pancakes. You know, Jewish people really have it good on Christmas, I just realized that. Well, them and the Parkers." Laurie raised an eyebrow in the rearview mirror, Keith remembering she still wasn't that used to Acxa's quirks.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and Kosmo's puppies will eat the Christmas turkey this year," Sven said with a soft laugh. Kosmo had fathered another litter of pups with the Holts' dog Ellie, and the Shiroganes still hadn't found them homes. So Kosmo and all five of his offspring were along for the ride. Luckily, Grandma had mentioned the cabin being "huge," and they'd have a lot of outdoors to play in.

Maybe they could talk Craig or Nick into taking a puppy or two off their hands. Keith smiled, ruffling Sven's hair.

"Grandma keeps everything under lock and key before dinner time, so even teleporting puppies can't get to it. Also, she said something about making bulgogi this year," he said. Grandma Jasmine liked to "mix it up" with her Christmas dinners; last year she'd made a big pot roast with all the trimmings, another year she'd made Texas-style ribs. She almost never did a Christmas turkey, it felt too repetitive given Thanksgiving.

"I hope Mom and Ryou don't have too much trouble with the wandering Shiroganes," Shiro mused. Shiro had finally reconnected with his family after Athena had been adopted, at Keith's own urging, but his relatives were spread out even further. Some of them didn't even live in the country. "I hear Ryou's got himself a girlfriend, though." Keith blinked.

"When did you find this out?"

"Just last week, actually. He and I are still getting used to doing the whole brother-talking thing again, and he mentioned there was a girl he met at a coffee shop and hit it off with. They've been hanging out for about a month now. And suddenly Keith remembered Romelle telling him and his mother about a "lovely afternoon" she'd spent with a new friend of hers roughly a month ago. Romelle was technically still part of their extended family, since he and Mom had taken her under their wing for quite a while, and she still kept them updated about New Altea and other aspects of her life.

"Come to think of it, she did cancel her plans to come along with us because _something_ came up," Mom chuckled. Shiro grinned.

"Remind me to text Romelle after the New Year," he said. "I'm suddenly looking _very_ forward to my cousin's engagement party in January."

 

More hugs came when they arrived at the cabin, everyone's chatter almost dizzying until Grandpa whistled to quiet them.

"I know we're all excited, but let's let these guys get settled in first, yeah?"

It took them fifteen minutes to settle in, with the kids fighting over who got which room and Keith secretly hoping he and Shiro would get their own rather than having to share with one of his uncles or the boys. Luckily, everything worked out well enough, and soon they were nestled on the couch by the fire, snacking on Susanna's jam thumbprints and Grandma's gingerbread.

"This reminds me of the gingerbread Dad used to make around Christmas," Keith said. "We couldn't afford much, he couldn't cook a lot of things, but he knew gingerbread." Grandma winked.

"Old family recipe." Keith blinked.

"So he _was_ telling the truth. I always figured he got it on the internet, and I never called him on it." He chuckled. "Thanks, Grandma. You're responsible for one of the best things Dad could always give me on Christmas!"

"There's plenty more where that came from," Craig said. "Your father loved helping out with the cookies. Normally you couldn't get him near a stove, but during Christmas, he'd count down the days till Mom declared baking season." He shook his head. "He wasn't _great_ at it, Mom just had him line the trays and do all the little side jobs, but he was happy enough."

"Especially when we had all the leftovers to ourselves after Mom and Dad sent the tins," Nick added. "They always made us divide it evenly, too, even when Heath and Laurie tried to snatch all the sugar cookies for themselves!" Mom snickered, accepting a hot mug of cider as Kristen passed them around.

"I still can't believe my Heath was really such a terror when he was young."

"Oh, all kids are," Susanna said lightly. "Nick and I had the worst time getting Kristen to eat her vegetables, and Nathan would have gone weeks without bathing if it were up to him!" Nathan cringed, giving his mother a _look._

"You're exaggerating!"

"Reminds me of trying to get Athena to go to sleep at bedtime," Shiro said. "Or Lisa to put her book down at the table, or Sven to tell us when he's not feeling well, or Danny...the less we get into that one, the better." Danny let out a little squeak of indignance.

"Hey!"

Acxa just shook her head, glancing around the room as she leaned against Keith's side.

"Four Christmases as your sister, and I still can't believe I actually enjoy this," she laughed. Keith grinned.

"Hey, this is good to know if you and Veronica ever decide to have kids." Acxa blushed.

"W-we're not even married yet!"

"What did you get Veronica for Christmas, then? Why haven't you shown any of us?"

" _Keith!_ "

 

Playing in the snow was a whole other experience in a place where snow was normal around this time of year. Arizona snow was still snow, but you always knew it would be gone the next day, if it lasted _that_ long. Vermont snow felt thicker, sturdier, it even _looked_ brighter.

The kids looked like they'd just been given an all-day pass to a toy store. Even Athena, who was trying so hard to act more grown-up now that she was two years away from her teens, was acting like the bouncy seven-year-old she'd been when they'd first brought her home. Keith hoped no matter how old she got, she'd never lose that childlike enthusiasm for life.

"Think fast, Pops!" Danny yelled, Keith diving into a snowbank to avoid the snowball aimed at his head.

"Good thing this time we don't have to go into decontamination after, right?" Shiro chuckled, helping him up. That had been the one downside to the squishy asteroid battle, those decontamination showers and blowers had made Keith feel like he was taking a bath in a car wash. Shiro had lovingly referred to him as a wet cat afterwards.

"Oh yeah. And Danny?" Keith picked up a snowball of his own. "It's on!"

"I'm on Dad's team!" Athena called, abandoning the snowman she'd been working on with Kristen and Jeff. Nathan and Sven immediately ran to Danny.

"Wait, you can't have two grownups on your team!" Jeff cried. "Shiro's gotta be on Danny and my side!"

"You really think those two are gonna fight each other?" Acxa rolled her eyes. "Let Auntie Acxa take care of this. I'm a good shot, and I'm as fast as two Paladins combined," she bragged. Keith gave a sigh of relief; even if a snowball fight was a far cry from _that_ fight, the memory still haunted him now and then and he didn't like the idea of attacking Shiro.

Of course, in the end it was more a free-for-all than anything. No one could keep the teams straight, the battle lines got trampled over, and by the end they'd fallen in a laughing heap next to the poor unfinished snowman.

"Well, at least the kids will be quiet at the dinner table tonight," Kristen chuckled. "Why don't we finish this poor guy?"

"Don't put the hat on his head," Danny said. "Or he'll come to life and kill you." Keith sighed.

"Shiro, have you been letting our five-year-old watch South Park?" Shiro shrugged.

"Look, as long as he's not picking Cartman as his role model, I don't see the harm." His voice dropped to a whisper as he pulled Keith close. "Besides, you and I used to watch all kinds of X-rated junk to make fun of it when you were still a teenager, and you turned out fine." Keith stifled a laugh.

"True, very true." He pulled Shiro close for a kiss, which lasted less than a minute before the kids started making gagging noises.

"Get a room!" Jeff yelled. Luckily, Mom and Craig called everyone back inside to clean up for dinner before any further teasing could happen. As they headed into the cabin, Keith could swear he saw a hopeful smile on Acxa's face, followed by a furitive glance at her ring finger.

_Not that serious yet, my foot. I gotta start thinking of a wedding present for them._

 

Susanna made them a big Italian feast that night. Risotto, Osso Buco (made with pork, because Nathan and Athena refused to touch veal), a big salad, garlic breadsticks, and polenta.

"I never appreciated Italian cooking until I got to know the Holts," Shiro said. "Keith and I used to go for pizza, and that was it."

"This Risotto is pretty good," Acxa commented. "It's like fried rice only creamy." Acxa was a big fan of rice dishes in general, something Shiro always kept in mind for whenever she came to their place for dinner. "But I don't get this polenta stuff."

"It's the Italian version of corn pudding," Craig said. "The Puritans may have given us one of the darkest, most repressed times in history, but they knew their food!"

"Maybe tomorrow morning I'll make a big old New England-style breakfast," Laurie offered. "Corned beef hash, brown bread baked in a coffee can, cornmeal mush, cranberry juice, all that good stuff." Keith tried to imagine eating something like polenta in a soupier form, and winced.

"We'll see."

"If not, I can make pancakes," Shiro said. Sven's eyes lit up.

"The pancakes you made my first breakfast at your home, Father?" Shiro smiled, patting him on the shoulder.

"The very same, kiddo."

"But when are we gonna open the Christmas Crunch?" Jeff begged. "I wanna eat the Christmas Crunch!" Laurie gave him a stern but loving look.

"We will, dear. Just be patient, it's waiting for Christmas Eve morning. And remember, just _one_ bowl, just because it's Christmas doesn't mean you can go hog-wild with the sugary treats," she said. Poor Jeff had had his first cavity filled just a few months ago, and Aunt Laurie herself had been cursed with less than great teeth. _Sorry, kiddo, you got it from me,_ she'd told Keith after learning he'd had to wear braces in middle school. Keith could totally get wanting to spare a kid from that kind of thing.

Jeff pouted, but kept quiet and went back to his food. It was hard to say no to kids, but Keith supposed it was a learning curve. Mom smiled at him from across the table.

"I'm sorry I never got to scold you about too much sugar, for what it's worth."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Keith smiled. "I didn't mind missing out on _that._ "

 

Even after everyone had gone off to bed, Keith stayed up, watching the snow fall outside and reflecting. He tended to do that anytime things were going this well, on how years ago if anyone had told him this kind of life could be his he would have laughed in their face. Back when he was just a surly problem child, an orphan nobody wanted.

_But you're somebody now, Keith. You saved the universe, you found your mother, you have more family than you know what to do with. Face it, those lonely days were just the maze you had to crawl through to get the cheese._

Sometimes he wished he could go back in time and tell that surly orphan that yes, it _did_ get better, that someday he was going to have it all. Not in the traditional sense, but he would be happy and far from alone. And it would all be thanks to the man whose car he stole, who would reach out to him and never give up. The man who would someday love him more than life itself.

He sensed his husband's arrival before he even heard his footsteps, felt the warmth of his Altean hand on his shoulder as Shiro sat down beside him. Keith smiled, leaning against his chest.

"Coming to bed, baby?"

"In a moment," Keith murmured. "I was just thinking." Shiro pulled him close, resting his chin on top of his head.

"About what?"

"The usual." Keith pressed his cheek against Shiro's heart, returning his embrace. "How lucky I am to have all of this, especially you," he said. "In a way, you're the one who gave me all this."

"Oh?" Shiro ruffled his hair. "How do you figure?"

"If you hadn't bailed me out and given me a chance that day, we wouldn't have gotten this close, I wouldn't have found you when you crashed outside the Garrison, we'd never have become a part of Voltron..." Keith laughed. "It's all a big ripple effect, Shiro." Shiro chuckled, kissing the top of his head.

"That's a way to look at it. But no matter what the circumstances, I like to think we'd end up together in the end." He lifted Keith into his arms, bridal-style. "You once called us a miracle romance, and I believe it." Keith smiled, arms looped around Shiro's neck as his husband carried him to their room.

"I still can't believe I ever came up with something so cheesy. Even if it fits."

"Oh, it does." Shiro settled them down onto the bed, bringing their lips together for a short kiss before Keith snuggled into his arms, closing his eyes.

"Love you," he murmured.

"I love you too, Starlight." Shiro kissed the top of his head again, and Keith soon fell asleep, full of joy, warmth, and anticipation for the days ahead.


End file.
